Factors Associated With Endowed Chair Allocation in Medical Oncology in the United States.

To explore persisting gender disparities across leadership roles in medicine, we examined factors associated with holding endowed chairs in US oncology divisions. In 2019, we identified 95 academic oncology divisions, using the Oncology Division Chiefs and Department Chairs listing in the American Society of Clinical Oncology myConnection forum. We collected public information on gender, degree, total National Institutes of Health funding as principal investigator, H-indices, publication and citation numbers, and graduation year and constructed a multivariable logistic regression model. All statistical tests were 2-sided. We identified 1087 oncology full professors. Of these, 287 (26.4%) held endowed chairs: 60 of 269 women (22.3%) vs 227 of 818 men (27.8%) (P = .08). On multivariable analysis, greater research productivity and National Institutes of Health funding were associated with having an endowed chair (P < .001), whereas gender was not (P = .45). Though sample size was limited, if gender differences are in fact smaller in certain subspecialties than other fields of internal medicine, insights might emerge to guide efforts to promote equity.

Curbing the Cough: Multimodal Treatments for Neurogenic Cough: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Neurogenic cough affects 11% of Americans and causes significant detriment to quality of life. With the advent of novel therapies, the objective of this review is to determine how procedural therapies (e.g., superior laryngeal nerve block) compare to other established pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments for neurogenic cough. METHODS: With the assistance of a medical librarian, a systematic review was performed using PICOS (patients, interventions, comparator, outcome, study design) format: adults with neurogenic cough receiving any pharmacologic or non-pharmacologic treatment for neurogenic cough compared to adults with neurogenic cough receiving any other relevant interventions, or treated as single cohorts, assessed with cough-specific quality of life outcomes, in all study designs and case series with ≥ 10 cases. Case reports, review articles, non-human studies, non-English language articles, and unavailable full-text articles were excluded. RESULTS: There were 2408 patients with neurogenic cough in this review, treated with medical therapy (77%), speech therapy (19%), both medical and speech therapy (1%), and procedural therapy (3%). The included studies ranged from low to intermediate quality. Overall, most interventions demonstrated successful improvement in cough. However, the heterogeneity of included study designs precluded direct comparisons between intervention types. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis compared various treatments for neurogenic cough. Procedural therapy should be considered in the armamentarium of neurogenic cough treatments, particularly in patients refractory to, or intolerant of, the side effects of medical therapy. Lastly, this review illuminates key areas for improving neurogenic cough diagnosis, such as strict adherence to diagnostic and treatment guidelines, sophisticated reflux testing, and standardized, consistent outcome reporting. Laryngoscope, 132:107-123, 2022.

Gender differences in endowed chairs in Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences from the top-10 NIH-funded medical schools in the US.

The current study examined gender differences in endowed chairs within Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences across the top 10 NIH-funded Schools of Medicine. The names of full professors with and without endowed chairs were collected and a multivariable logistic regression model was constructed to predict having an endowed chair considering gender, primary degree, NIH funding, and citation number. Secondary analyses repeated the models separately for individuals holding an MD or MD/PhD versus those with a non-MD doctoral degree (i.e., PhD). There were 715 full professors (36% women) and 115 endowed chairs (35% women). When adjusting for primary degree type, funding, and citations, women were significantly more likely to hold an endowed chair than men. Secondary models indicated that findings differed based on primary degree type. Among those with an MD or MD/PhD, gender was not associated with holding an endowed chair while among faculty with a PhD, women full professors were significantly more likely to hold an endowed chair than men. These results diverge from a prior study of Departments of Medicine in which endowed chairs were found to favor men.

The effect of cannabis policies on treatment outcomes for cannabis use among U.S. adults.

BACKGROUND: Research has explored the impact of various medical cannabis policies on substance use treatment admission in recent years, but we know little about factors related to participants' treatment engagement and outcome. To fill this gap in the existing literature, this study used national data to examine the influence of cannabis policies (decriminalized, medical, and recreational) and referral sources (criminal justice vs. voluntary) on treatment completion and length of stay. METHODS: Data came from the Treatment Episode Data Set-Discharge (2006-2017) on adults 18+ whose primary drug at treatment admission was cannabis. Difference-in-difference analyses using logistic regression examined the effect of cannabis policies on outpatient treatment completion (yes/no; n = 2,192,807) and length of stay (more/fewer than 90 days; n = 1,863,585) in those with a criminal justice or voluntary referral source. RESULTS: Cannabis policy was not associated with treatment completion in either those with a criminal justice or voluntary referral source. Compared to individuals in states where cannabis use was strictly illegal, those in states with a decriminalization policy were less likely to stay in treatment for 91+ days regardless of the referral source. CONCLUSIONS: Cannabis policy appears to have a differential effect on treatment completion versus length of stay, with policy having no impact on successful treatment completion. Specifically, we found that decriminalization policies hinder treatment engagement past 90 days. In this sense, length of stay may be a more useful measure of treatment outcome for research than treatment completion moving forward. Furthermore, our study found that neither medical nor recreational policies affected length of stay or treatment completion, regardless of referral source.

WISE: A Support Group for Graduate and Post-Graduate Women in STEM.

Women remain underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) support groups were developed in 2001 as an intervention to foster community in graduate and postgraduate women in STEM at a large academic research institution. Since the WISE program's inception, over 1,500 women have participated. From 2011 to 2018, anonymous, voluntary surveys were distributed at the end of every academic year to WISE group members. Surveys consisted of quantitative and qualitative data regarding participants' perceptions of and experiences in the WISE groups. From 2011 to 2018, 76.4% of survey respondents (n = 416) reported that WISE groups were an excellent experience overall. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data demonstrated four major benefits of WISE group participation: creation of community, having a safe space, emotional support, and peer mentorship. Suggestions for improvement included increasing access to groups. The WISE group program was a well-liked intervention that may support graduate and postgraduate women in STEM. Study limitations, as well as implications for future research, practice, and advocacy are noted.